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Piano Trio No 2 in G major, Op 128

Introduction

Grechaninov composed the Piano Trio No 2 in G major, Op 128 in Paris in 1930. As can be seen, this is a much shorter work than its predecessor, yet it carries the modal uncertainty of the Cello Sonata further. The first subject, which begins at once, is basically in G major, but ends in the minor; the second subject actually begins in G major before moving to D major (the ‘traditional’ second-subject key), but as the music progresses it is G minor which exerts a strong influence. The second movement Intermezzo is in E flat major, but Grechaninov it seems cannot resist the pull of G minor from the first movement—which comes to infect the more rhythmic central section. The finale is less obviously in sonata form, for there is no second subject as such, more a secondary group of fragments. The movement is in attractive compound time, as a moto perpetuo, but the G major opening is—as, by now, we might expect—soon deserted for developmental treatment on the flat side of the home key, returning intermittently to G major wherein the work ends in breathless excitement.

Recordings

'Such an innocent exuberance as well as an amiable lyrical impulse that it is hard not to find the music easy on the ear, especially in such infectiou ...'The Moscow Rachmaninov Trio make a convincing argument for this overlooked repertoire' (The Observer)» More